


Right Back Where We Started From

by CaptainJZH



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: But all shall revealed, Canon divergent after Stuck Together, Gen, It may be confusing at first, Steven just wants to be happy again
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-12-01 08:40:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11482731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainJZH/pseuds/CaptainJZH
Summary: Steven, or, as far as Homeworld knows, Rose Quartz, is being taken to be punished for crimes against Gemkind. He escapes, but then finds himself at the Big Donut, crying about Cookie Cats. Wait, what?





	1. This Can't Be Happening (Prologue)

“Where are they taking us?”

“I don’t know!”

“Steven!”

“Lars!”

Aquamarine floated alongside Topaz as she carried Steven down the darkened hallway.

“Unfortunately for you,” the small blue Gem began, “The Diamonds have decided to skip the trial and get right to the punishment.

“Also unfortunately for you, they never specified what kind of punishment to give you, so I get to decide that all for myself!”

Steven growled in restrained anger.

“Where did they take Lars?!” he shouted.

“Oh, the human? Probably on his way to that eyesore Pink Diamond used to call a zoo.”

Steven sighed.

“At least he’ll be safe there, I guess…”

“A lot safer than you, Rosie. No way of escaping!”

Steven then remembered: There was one way for him to escape. He clenched his fists together and closed his eyes. Summoning all the power he could muster, a pink bubble formed around him and threw Topaz right into Aquamarine.

“Get off of me you giant-!” Aquamarine shouted, “Guards! GUARDS!”

Quartz soldiers began running down the hallway ahead, their shadows getting smaller and smaller against the light. Steven quickly ran around the corner and down a narrow corridor, looking for a place to hide. The soldiers were gaining on him. Steven ran around another corner, briefly ducking out of sight, and saw an open door directly ahead. It was slowly closing.

“That’s my chance…” Steven muttered to himself before making a break for the darkened doorway.

He pushed himself forward with all his might, and for a moment thought that he wouldn’t be able to make it.

“NOOOOOOOOOO-!” he screamed as he jumped towards the shrinking crack under the door.

“-OOOOOOOOOOO-!” he continued as he fell onto the floor and slid towards the top-down-closing door.

“-OOOOOooooooo-!” he continued even more as he rolled under the door and it shut behind him, concealing the room in darkness.

“-oooooooooooooo...” he finished, as he stared at the empty Cookie Cat mini-fridge at the Big Donut.

“Huh?” Steven asked, turning around frantically.

What just happened?


	2. The Beginning

“I’m sorry Steven,” Sadie said from behind the counter, “I guess they stopped making them.”

“What?” Steven asked, looking around in confusion.

“I guess they just couldn’t compete with Lion Lickers,” Lars said as he continued stocking the shelves, as if he hadn’t just gotten dragged off to some remote space outpost by a giant yellow fusion component.

“Wait, hold on,” Steven said, “What’s going on here?”

“What do you mean?” Sadie asked him.

“I escaped from Topaz with my bubble but then I was being chased by these Quartz guards and I was running and running and I slid under the door and everything was dark but then I ended up here and Lars is here and-”

“Steven, you’re not making any sense,” Sadie told him, “You walked in, went to the Cookie Cat fridge, and now here we are.”

“But...but… I was on Homeworld! I was about to be punished! I can’t be-”

Steven glanced out the Big Donut window and saw a giant fry-cup-shaped costume being chased by seagulls.

“Hold that thought,” Steven said before running outside.

Sadie and Lars just shrugged.

“Peedee?” Steven asked the Frybo suit as it turned around, revealing his young friend’s tired face, “I thought… Wasn’t Frybo…”

“Steven, are you okay?”

Steven’s eyes widened and he suddenly darted towards the Temple.

“We buried you at sea, Fryboooooooo!” he shouted.

“What?!” Peedee called out before being chased back down the beach by seagulls.

Steven ran around the cliffside, the huge stone arms of the Temple shining in the sunlight. It was like he never left...but he couldn't shake the feeling it was more than that. His feet practically leaped up the steps, and he pushed open the door.

The moment he did, a mini-Centipeetle squawked in his face, Amethyst pulling it back with her whip. The whole beach house was filled with them.

“Sup, Steven?” Amethyst asked, looking almost as if she hadn’t been poofed by the Slinker, or by Jasper a few months back.

Garnet was also fighting the mini-Centipeetles, looking as if Ruby and Sapphire hadn’t been forcibly unfused by a Gem destabilizer almost a year ago.

So was Pearl, looking as if she hadn’t been stabbed by her own holographic doppelganger nearly two years prior...

“Sorry, Steven,” Pearl told him as she continued fighting, “We’ll get these Centipeetles out of your room. We think they were trying to get into the temple.”

Steven’s eyes widened even more as he realized where- and when -he was.

He immediately ran to the refrigerator and was met with the sight of dozens of Cookie Cat packages. A small, red glow bracelet sat in the back. Steven found himself staring at that most of all.

“Um, you guys?” Amethyst called out as she poofed more of the Centipeetles, “These things don’t have gems.”

“That means there must be a mother somewhere nearby,” Garnet said it response, stoic as ever.

“We should probably find it before anyone gets hurt,” Pearl said.

Then they finally noticed that Steven hadn’t moved from the freezer during the entire encounter.

“Aw, you spoiled the surprise!” Amethyst exclaimed.

“...I thought they stopped making Cookie Cats…” Steven quietly said to himself.

“Well,” Pearl began, “we heard that, too, and since they’re your favorite…”

“We went out and stole a bunch!” Amethyst interrupted.

“I went back and paid for them!” Pearl finished, looking at Amethyst disapprovingly.

“The whole thing was my idea,” Garnet said, retracting her gauntlets.

“It was everyone’s idea!” Amethyst protested.

“Not really,” Garnet said in return.

“All that matters is that Steven is happy,” Pearl then said, not noticing that Steven was blankly staring at the slowly-melting Cookie Cat bar he had taken out of the freezer.

This was over two years ago.

He didn’t know how, and he didn’t know why...but this was the day he was supposed to summon his shield for the first time. Back then, he thought it would be because of Cookie Cats, but it was because of his emotions, positive emotions, towards the Gems for what they did for him.

And only a couple hours ago he gave all that up because of something his mother did that he felt responsible for.

His mother. Rose Quartz. The Gem who shattered Pink Diamond. The Gem who abandoned her friends to become him. The Gem whose picture hung proudly above the- 

The picture wasn’t there. The spot above the door was blank. Steven could have swore that it had been there since the day he moved in.

Steven felt his hand move to his bellybutton to check for his gem. Thankfully, it was still there. But...whose gem was it? It was like Rose Quartz didn’t even exist...

“Steven?” he heard Pearl ask, snapping him out of his daze.

He felt tears forming at his eyes, but quickly blinked them away.

“Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s…” Steven started to say as he looked at the three Gems’ innocent faces.

He could tell them.

He could tell them everything.

He could tell them that he had been somehow transported back in time, into a world in which his mother seemingly didn’t exist save for his gem.

He could tell them about the Cluster, about Homeworld, about Bismuth and Jasper and Peridot and Lapis and Aquamarine and Topaz and the Diamonds…

Steven looked back down at the Cookie Cat bar in his hands.

Or, for the first time in almost a year, he could enjoy himself.

He could go back to having not a care in the world.

He could go back to not worrying about his destiny or the Diamonds or what the Gems thought of him because of his mother because, apparently, his mother no longer existed.

He could be a kid again.

“Everything’s great,” Steven finally said.

“Everything’s perfect.”


End file.
